Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Any complete theory of learning to read must explain individual differences in reading development. Studies of individual differences in early reading achievement point to key processes and abilities that may underpin reading success and failure that may ultimately help us to optimize instruction. Such studies have a long history and have attracted a huge amount of research. This review must of necessity be selective and will focus on key research areas in relation to the first few years of alphabetic reading. Assessing the predictors of individual differences in learning to read involves longitudinal studies where a predictor variable (or variables) at one point in time ( t 1 ) is related to reading at a later time ( t 2 ). Where reading ability is unstable, key measures assessed at school entry will predict less variance. Predictive studies from small groups, such as single classes and perhaps even single schools, may be unreliable and, at worst, biased by the effects of particular instructional contexts. Studies of single classes and of fewer than 50 children have thus generally been excluded from this review. The ultimate goal of reading is to understand continuous text. The higher-level processing required for this is interrupted when attention is diverted to lower-level word identification processes. Indeed, even when reading is accurate, if it is effortful, the higher-order ... log in or subscribe to read full text